The Indian Army - Reforms (PART 1)

 Hello my dear Readers. Welcome to Blogskypass..!!

    As already said, in today's blog we are going to look about the reforms that Indian Armed Forces are in need of. These need for reforms doesn't mean that they are working below their capacity. But we have ways to increase their productivity. It's an Universal truth that anything good, can be made even better.

Again due to excess amount of information to be covered this blog is being published as 2 parts.

Indian Soldiers don't fight in the name of Nationalism

    At first, let's understand the basic difference between Patriotism and Nationalism, which sound same but differ in meaning. Loyalty of a person to his/her country is Patriotism, whereas Nationalism is a political, social and economical system characterized by promotion of interest of a particular nation. Is PATRIOTISM or NATIONALISM the primary motivation for Soldiers and Officers fighting in a battle? Technically NO. Research suggest that soldiers don't fight for patriotism or nationalism. They fight because they don't want to see their soldier brothers die or feel coward Soldiers fight as they couldn't see their brothers die. This emotional bond/cohesion strengthens the unit. That way is the Army designed. 

    Then you may ask. What's the role of patriotism. Patriotism is an integral part of training in Army. It acts as an umbrella concept of motivation. They fight for their comrades, units and regiments, but the main objective is to ensure that tricolour flies high.

Politicization of the Military

    Politicization implies that armed forces find a political motive or though process. Politicized army would lead to situation like Pakistan, where military has most powers. But it haven't happened in India. At the same time we must ensure it's not happening in future too. This can be ensured by the questioning of Armed Forces and Government with regard to their preparedness for any mission assigned to them and their performance while executing it. But the journalists stopped questioning them on National Security and have gone along with the mood of the nation. At the same time, constitutionally it's ensured that Armed Forces don't have a political move. It is ludicrous for the government to advance the logic that the 'Armed Forces have been given complete freedom' and one cannot question them. It is given political direction with certain limitations and the freedom of action is restricted to execution.

Yelling panelists on  TV shows

    Here are a series of different events, which gained a lot of attention from the general public.

• On 13th April 2017, a man was tied to bumper of jeep and patrolled by army convoy vehicle. It was said to be done as instructed by their commander, Major Gogoi.

• On 8th of January 2017 Constable Bahadur Yadav of Border Security Force circulated a video on social media about the poor quality of ration. 

    These two incidents got multiple responses, both supporting and opposing. Let me first explain the scenario. 

First Case: It happened at Jammu and Kashmir. As we all know it's a state of violence. Armed Forces have guns and grenades to fight terrorists. But nothing to fight a 15 year old boy or a pregnant lady. Stone pelting are most common here. As the pettlers are civilians, Army couldn't fire. Simply wait for them to disperse. This event happened when Election Commission vehicle carrying EVMs were stone pelted by civilians. As the army must escort them safely, Major Gogoi tied up a man to bumper. Hence the stone pelting stopped and the Election Commission vehicle was safely escorted. In fact Major Gogoi was awarded a medal as a recognition of this work, when the case was open with Court of Inquiry. 

  

Second Case: The ration for soldiers are poor, especially at the remote areas. It may be due to the high altitude or remote areas, that food supplies couldn't reach. However, the soldier mustn't have taken it to social media. There is a system of addressing grievances of Army serving members with in the institution. They are solved at the Army Head Quarters, via the Ministry of Defense. 

    In both the cases, instead of finding a solution, there were lot of TV shows and debates in all the regions trying to find the guilty person. The incident is done. Instead of finding a way to avoid the same incident in another circumstance, TV panelists were doing something else.

That's all for this blog. There are yet more reforms we need to sucuss about, which will be done soon. Meet you all soon at my next blog.

Until then, it's KK signing off. Good Byeeee.

(P.S. All the idea here are a part of the book The Indian Army - Reminiscences, Reforms and Romance by H.S.Panag. Those idea are just briefed up here for normal understanding.)

Guardians of India

Warm Greetings.

This blog is a brief introduction to the working of country's National Security and handling of internal issues and threats. And also a tribute to those Guardians..

NATIONAL SECURITY

    National Security of a country is the primary concern. It is what we all call the Defense Department. As we all know, the first citizen of India, President, is the the supreme commander of all the three armed defense forces, namely - Army, Navy and Air Force. He has the highest authority of declaring war, peace and signing International Agreements. However, all of these activities are done by the Prime Minister, in the name of President. Followed by this is the Defense Minister, who monitors the overall functioning of tri-service. Then comes the National Security Advisor and Defense Secretary. Followed by them is the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) and Chief of Army, Chief of Navy and Chief of Air Force. This is the hierarchy of the Defense Department. Followed by them would be other higher officials within department.

    National Security Advisor (NSA) is an officer from Indian Police Service (IPS) or Indian Foreign Service (IFS), who works as an advisor to the Prime Minister about the security and defense of the nation and also heads the National Security Council. He is directly answerable to the Prime Minister. Defense Secretary is an IAS Officer who monitors only the tri-service and reports to the Defense Minister.

Chief of Defense Staff (CDS)

    The Chief of Defense Staff is a five star general and the senior most Armed Force Officer. His status is more or less equal to that of Cabinet Secretary. He is the principal military advisor to the Prime Minister and National Security Council. He is responsible capability development and modernization of the Armed Forces. The current and first incumbent is General Bipin Rawat.

Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard

    The Indian Army is lead by the Cheif of Army Stffs (COAS) General Manoj Mukund Naravane. The primary task of Army is to secure the boundaries of India and prevent infiltration from any part. Among them they are divided into various regiments, like Gorkha Regiment, Parachute Regiment, Madras Regiment and Punjab Regiment. These regiments are divided into Battalions, which serve at different parts of the country. The special forces of Army are Para Commandos, who are given training with par to International Standards, and are considered to be one of the lethal forces of world. National Defense Academy in Pune, Officers Training Academy in Chennai and Gaya and Indian Military Academy in Dehradun are the training centers for army officers and soldiers.

    The Indian Navy is lead by Admiral Karambir Singh. Their main task is to maintain maritime peace and secure the international oceanic boundaries of India. They are divided on the basis of the ships they work. At present, with more than 70000 active personals (which includes sailors, Naval officers and engineers) there are 8 landing ship tanks, 1 aircrafts carrier, 1 ambitious transport dock, 8 landing ships, 11 destroyers, 13 frigates, 10 large off-shore patrol vehicles, 4 fleet tankers, 7 survey ships and 1 research vehicle. The ships include INS Vikramadhithya, INS Shakthi and INS Kolkatta. The special forces of navy are MARCOS, who are trained in par with the American Navy SEALS. Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala trains Naval Sailors, Officers and Engineers.

    The Indian Air Force is being lead by it's Chief, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Badhuria. With more that 1800++ air crafts, the don the Indian Air space. There are in different categories, flying officers, air traffic control and technical and non-technical engineers. Their major task is to assist Navy and Army in supplying arms and ammunition supplies. Also, the fighter jets carry some important operations of attacking enemies territory. The special forces of Air Force Garud Commandos. They have the longest training period of 3 years. Indian Air Force Academy at Dundigal in Telangana is the training centre.

    The Indian Coast Guard is commanded by Director General Krishnaswamy Natarajan. They work within the International Borders and in inland water bodies. They majorly assist Navy in monitoring inland water bodies and also contribute to the internal security.

    Adding to there are various Intelligence Departments, include External Intelligence Agency - Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

All these 4 forces come directly under the Defense Ministry of India.

INTERNAL SECURITY

    Internal Security of India is controlled and monitored by the Home Ministry Department of Indian Government. They have Central Armed Police Force, while include CRPFs to control internal events like riots, communal clashes and bundh.

    Central Reserved Police Forces (CRPF) are deployed in the regions having heavy clashes, to maintain peace and law and order. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) are deployed at airports and other public places to screen passengers and protect government property. Indo-Tibetian Border Police (ITBP), Border Security Force (BSF), Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB), along with CRPFs monitors law and order in Line of Control and Line of Actual Control acting as morale support and security to Indian villages in the border, from the enemy troops. 

    There is also an Internal Intelligent Agency - Intelligence Bureau (IB) which collects intelligence inuts from various parts of the country and maintains harmony. IB has various other divisions with in it - Directorate Enforcement, Indian Political Intelligence Office and Signals Intelligence Directorate.

    Apart from them, there is National investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which investigates cases of National importance. Narcotic Control Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Railway Police Force are other armed and intelligence forces attatched to various other departments of the Government of India.

SECURITY TO VIPs

To the President

    The Presidential Body Guards provides protection to the President. The President's Bodyguard (PBG) is an elite house hold cavalry regiment of the Indian Army. It is senior-most in the order of precedence of the units of the Indian Army. The primary role of the President's Bodyguard is to escort and protect the President of India which is why the regiment is based in the Rashtrapathi Bhavan in New Delhi, India. It is equipped as a mounted unit, with horses for ceremonies at the presidential palace and BTR-80 vehicles for use in combat. The personnel of the regiment are also trained as paratroopers and nominally are expected to lead in airborne assaults in the role of pathfinders. These PBGs are serving Army/Air Force/navy Officers.

To the Prime Minister

    The Special Protection Group (SPG) is a special operations force whose objective is providing proximate security to the Prime Minister of India and members of their immediate families anywhere in the world. It was formed in 1988 by an Act of the Parliment of India. It provides security only to the Prime Minister of India and their immediate family members residing with them at the official residence. Earlier, it used to provide security to former prime ministers as well, but they are now given the Z+ Security Cover. These SPGs are recruited from various other armed forces, except the defence tri-service.

To other VIPs

    All other dignitaries including Union Ministers, Chief Minsiters of the States and member of Parliments are given Z+ Security Cover by the National Security Guards. These SPGs are recruited individually and also from other forces including IPS and CAPF.

These are all the major forces in our country serving hard to maintain peace and make the tri-colour fly high always. All the armed forces are maintained at the best. 

Hope this was informative.

As a continuation of this blog, next I will be discussing about the various reforms that the aremed forces are in dire need of. Remember, our forces are doing good. But there is always a way to make it better.

Meet you all soon at my next blog.

Jain hind..!!

The Civil War of Sri Lanka

Hey folks..!! Hope you all are doing good.

This is my first try towards a vlog. Hope you guys would like it. 

The video is in 3 part, in order. Watch it and get benefitted.

          

Stay tuned for more updates.

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